Yen Softness Continues as Euro Rallies

By: Barbara Zigah

In Asian trading, the Japanese Yen continues to be under pressure, sliding on Monday to a 9-month trough against the U.S. Dollar. This follows the surprising easing measures conducted by the Bank of Japan recently in an effort to regain the upper hand on the appreciating currency which is hampering the country’s economic and infrastructural restoration following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. As reported at 12:02 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo the U.S. Dollar was trading at 81.661 Japanese Yen; thus far this most, a more than 7% gain accelerated by buying after breaking above major resistance on Friday when the USD/JPY pair struck 80.94 Yen. Some analysts believe that the break through the Ichimoku cloud suggests that the U.S. Dollar’s decline might be now coming to a long-awaited end.

The Euro also moved higher against the U.S. Dollar, trading at $1.3455 near the 2½ month peak which was struck on Friday. With the rally Euro-Dollar continuing ahead of the European Central Bank’s next LTRO offering which is set for later in the week. The last LTRO offering resulted in a participation of nearly €500 billion and some analysts expect that it could double or treble this time around though a recent poll suggests that banks will seek to borrow around the same amount as the last LTRO.